There In Your Heartache
by futurerustfuture-dust
Summary: After Natasha has a close run in on her last mission, Loki is forced to consider just how fleeting, and fragile, the lives of a mortal can be.


He blamed it entirely on the last mission she'd come back from, her eyes fixed and almost dead looking as she slid her way through the door to her apartment in Queens, Loki already waiting on the couch, attention previously fixed on his book. As soon as the scent of her blood hit the air his head snapped up, eyes zeroing in on the poorly bandaged wound on her side that she was clutching as she shut the door quietly and fumbled with the lock, cursing as she left blood in her wake. Loki was at her side in a moment, catching her when she near collapsed.

"What the Hel happened?" He asked, voice hushed as he struggled to assess the damage done. She had a small limp and there was a red ring around her throat. She'd been choked, then, and she tried to push him away as he struggled to find the rest of her wounds. He needed to heal her, dammit!

"Mission went sour. 'S okay. I got the information anyway-." She stumbled, gritting her teeth as she caught herself on the couch. She didn't have much of a hold on herself, sliding down to the floor soon after. She'd have knocked her head against it if he hadn't caught her, laying her down gently on the floor. He pulled the hem of her shirt up, trying to take in just how deep the cut was. It was a miracle she was still walking, let alone breathing and talking. From her pocket she pulled out a bloody USB drive.

"Get this to SHIELD," she slurred her words. He pocketed it quickly.

"After I heal you."

"No," she huffed, trying to push him away. His blood went cold. What? "I'll heal. 'M fine. Just get this to Barton, now. They need to know it."

"I don't give a bloody damn about their organization when you're bleeding out on the bloody floor," he said, words coming out rather more harshly than he'd meant them to. She didn't even wince, though her gaze hardened.

"Loki. Do it."

"Shut up and let me heal you. At least get the bleeding done."

She made to argue against it but didn't seem to have the strength for it, dissolving into a coughing fit that stilled his heart in his chest as he summoned a couple healing stones and crushed them over the worst of her wounds. What was it he'd said to Thor about Jane being mortal? Was this still the same fear that his adopted brother felt every time he made to save his lady love from the perils of her every day? He'd heard them arguing before about the simplest of things, and thought it amusing that he wished to walk her to work each day for fear that she'd be hit by a car and killed.

It didn't seem so ridiculous anymore.

* * *

True to his word he'd gotten the USB drive to SHIELD as soon as he'd stabilized Natasha, having left her on her bed resting while he'd deposited the piece of crap technology that she'd nearly died to retrieve. Honestly, didn't they have back up for her to call when things went sour? It was a damn miracle that she was still alive, and his heart ached at the thought of her having perished while in service to her pathetic organization. Honestly, how could she validate the risks she took, that they put her through on a day to day basis? Didn't it strike her as excessive, the danger she put herself in? She was only human, after all.

His fingers tightened on the steering wheel of her Corvette, not being allowed to use magic to get him there per the agreement between himself and Fury, narrowly avoiding crashing it into one of the sidewalks near the SHIELD base. He had half a mind to talk to her superior office, to demand to know why they didn't place her in easier missions, or at least give her a competent partner to go along with her to have her back rather than forcing her to take the weight of the entire mission on herself, but he knew if she ever caught wind of it-which she would-he'd never be permitted to see her again. She'd already warned him that if he got too involved she'd be more than willing to put the distance back between them, and he didn't want that. Not at all. Parking the car in the emergency parking lane, he took the stairs three at a time and all but threw the USB device to the nearest high-ranking official. There wasn't enough time to waste on dealing with them, and they'd know who it was from if the employee wasn't a complete imbecile. Without another word he trekked back down to the car and made his way back to the apartment as quickly as he could manage, petrified that at any moment he'd come back to find that Natasha had passed while he'd been delivering her damn information that apprently was so important she nearly died for it. If he ran three or so red lights on the way back, well, the security footage would never be able to prove it.

* * *

She was still breathing when he got there, and for that he murmured a quick prayer of thanks to the Norns as he stripped off his shirt and crawled into bed beside her. He wanted to feel her skin on his, to hear her heart beat steadily and to know that she was _alive _and well. She groaned quietly when he shifted her into his arms, but to his delight turned her head to rest it against his chest. The healing stones had done away with the majority of the damage, though she still had a few scratches and cuts that he would apply a salve to in order to ensure it didn't scar. He felt his throat tighten as he held her close. Norns help him if she were ever to die.

"Don't ever leave me, Natasha," he murmured into her red hair, lips brushing against her scalp just enough to make her give a quiet groan and shift, burying her head under his chin.

"Mkay. I'll try," she muttered, half asleep as her arm wrapped around his waist to hold him just as close.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! This is thanks to the anon who prompted Loki having to come to terms with just how mortal and fragile Natasha is in comparison based around what he was saying to Thor about Jane's mortality. Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
